


Hidden Injuries

by dancergrl1



Category: The Greatest Showman (2017)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Minor Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-11
Updated: 2018-03-11
Packaged: 2019-03-29 23:55:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13938162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dancergrl1/pseuds/dancergrl1
Summary: Phin sprains his ankle, but doesn't tell anyone. Until it comes back to bite him.





	Hidden Injuries

**Author's Note:**

> So this is, once again, based on my experience. I sprained my ankle and for three months didn't tell anyone. I didn't get it diagnosed until after it had essentially healed. Took me 4 months of physical therapy to get back in dancing shape, and I'm pleased to report it hasn't happened since and when I do roll it accidentally I can treat it accordingly. 
> 
> Enjoy!

PT Barnum was a man in constant motion. Even when he was sitting, some part of him was always moving. He was often so far into his head or so focused on what he was doing, he hardly paid attention to where he was going. He also had a nasty habit of hiding injuries, working through them until he physically couldn’t any longer. Or until someone discovered it for him. 

Thankfully, the two rarely converged, and traditionally someone managed to stop one of them from getting worse before the two converged upon each other. Unfortunately, Barnum was an actor, a showman, at heart. Sometimes, they couldn’t be stopped.  
—  
He was running through backstage, towards an urgent situation, when he stepped solidly on one of the balls the jugglers used. It rolled his ankle out to the side, far beyond the normal range of motion of the joint. He altered his step to take weight off the joint without thinking about it, and once it was alright again he resumed his usual gait. Thankfully, it was dark, and nobody had seen. 

“What’s wrong?” He continued to solve the issue as if nothing was wrong, as it wasn’t hurting him at all. At the time, it wasn’t. He was too focused on what was going on around him.   
—  
A few days later, he noticed that the joint seemed swollen. He found a long strip of cloth and wound it tightly about the offending joint. That seemed to ebb the pain some, the pain he hadn’t noticed until now. 

He shrugged it off and continued to rehearsal as he had planned. There was a show to put on. 

It was at rehearsal, after practicing a new routine that had him jumping and landing on one foot, that someone noticed something was wrong. After landing it one too many times, he finds himself a lot closer to the floor than usual. It’s Lettie who’s looking down at him with concern etched into her face. “Are you alright?” She asked. 

“Yeah.” He said, standing. “I’m fine.” 

He was more careful the rest of the rehearsal.   
—  
A few weeks after the initial incident, he noticed the pain was more consistent. He’d been careful at rehearsal, hiding it and purposely improvising his choreography during the leap sequences. Nobody noticed. 

He went home for lunch that day, and joined Charity in their rooms. She noticed something was unusual when he put his foot up however possible, on the low table before lunch was brought to them, and on his knee after lunch was delivered. 

Charity tried to scold him for having his foot on the furniture, but he looked at her and said plainly “It hurts any other way.” 

Her response was rapid and angry. “I‘m calling the doctor. You can’t possibly be alright, not if you’re walking around in this much pain.”

Despite his protests, the doctor showed up within the hour. 

“Tell me what happened.” He said simply

“Well you know, my job is very demanding, a few months ago i was playing with the girls a lot, rough gardens, lots of running. I tripped over something a few weeks ago.” He added the last part hesitantly, as if it was his condemnation. 

The doctor considered it briefly, and turned to his bag. Out of it, he pulled two small pieces of wood, and placed them tightly against his ankle. He took a thicker, more solid piece of cloth and wrapped them tightly against it, carefully keeping his foot angled almost up. “Keep that on and limit movement for a few days. No weight on it.” 

Charity nodded. “I’ll make sure of it.” 

The doctor took his leave. 

“Phin, i swear if i see you out of this room I will not hesitate to drag you by your ears back into it.”

Phineas, properly chastised, lifted his heavy foot back onto the table. The release of the tension from his shoulders showed his wife how much pain he was in. “Chairy?” His voice broke on the word. 

She rushed over to him, rubbing a hand across the back of his shoulders. “Phin are you alright?” 

He shook his head. 

“It...hurts. It feels hot and swollen. It hurts...a lot.” 

Charity looked at him softly. “Let me try something. I’ll be right back, I promise.” 

Phineas curled his hands into a fist, trying not to reach out for her. 

She was back sooner than he’d anticipated, with something wrapped in a cloth. SHe rested it softly against his ankle, and the cold he felt was amazing. It had to have relieved half the pain he was feeling. “Thank you, dear god, thank you.” he breathed out. 

“I hoped it would help.” She replied. 

They curled together on the couch, and sooner than he’d wanted, he fell asleep.  
—  
Charity walked down the hallway to the sound of grunting and muttered curses coming from their room. She figured what she could expect before she even walked in the door. 

“PHINEAS TAYLOR BARNUM.” She exclaimed. 

He looked up guiltily. His hands were halfway through unwrapping the ties at his ankles. “It feels like someone has run a needle through a candle, then stuck it in the back of my ankle. For fun. It hurts so badly, i had to take it off.” 

Her face softened by degrees. “Alright. It’s alright. We’ll call on someone, there has to be someone who knows how to take care of this type of thing.”

Charity sent a butler scrambling, in search of a dance teacher of some sort, who had experience in this type of foot and ankle injury.   
—  
When the teacher arrived, she was ushered upstairs with little to no fanfare. “Please, we need your help.” Charity explained. 

She examined the joint in question, and evaluated the situation. “It’s a sprain. A poorly treated one, and one that was left for a while, if i had to guess.” 

Phineas nodded sheepishly. 

“How long ago?” 

“About three weeks.” he responded, blushing in shame.

“Really, Mr. Barnum, that wasn't healthy.” She chastised. 

“I know. The show had to go on.” he replied.

She shook her head, unimpressed. She continued to describe a series of basic stretches to start the ankle moving again, carefully without straining it further, and promised to return in a week to observe his progress.

Charity showed her out, and then whirled on her husband. 

“PHINEAS TAYLOR BARNUM.” 

He was beginning to think he was going to get used to his name being called like that. 

“What were you thinking? Three weeks?! You hurt yourself three WEEKS ago and didn't bother to say anything?!” 

She looked at him expectantly. 

“Well?” She continued when it was clear he wasn't going to volunteer his answer.

“The show has to go on?” He offered weakly.

Charity stormed out.   
\---  
A week later, the teacher returned with a long, flexible strip of...something. She showed him how to tie a knot in it and hook his foot into it. She showed him how to do resistance stretches to stretch the muscles in his foot. 

He continued in this trajectory for several weeks, completely barred from the show until he was clear on the orders of the teacher, Philip, and Charity. He was bored in the house, especially because walking was still uncomfortable. The resistance was increased every couple of weeks until he could perform the exercises without pain. 

Then they moved into her studio after hours. He would do heel raises, like Caroline would for ballet, to stretch the muscles in his calves. The longer he did them the stronger they were, preventing it from happening as severely. He started working on his core, not noticing as winter faded into spring.   
\---  
Finally, finally, he was released from her care. He'd been cleared for the show about a month before, but she still insisted he see her at least once a week to continue strengthening him to keep it from happening again. 

His first night back in the middle of the ring is a victory unmatched by any other feeling he'd felt. He'd never felt better than the night he took the stage again.


End file.
